Golden Calf

Shortly after the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, despairing that their leader Moses had died atop the mountain, the Israelites built and began to worship a golden calf — in direct violation of the first commandments of the Ten Commandments. The "golden calf" may refer to either the idol the Israelites built or the narrative. Upon Moses' discovery of the Israelites' grievous transgression, he smashed the tablets of the law, ground up the golden calf, and made the Israelites drink the mixture.